Chapter-9

"This is my house." Mohit said to Navya.

Navya looked out of the window, as Mohit's SUV stopped in front of a two-story house, which turned out to be only about twenty minutes from Navya's house. This Saturday, as promised earlier, Mohit took Navya to his private house.

The house looked grand and spacious. The front yard is also spacious, it can fit about three cars, even though there is still a garage to park the car. The floor of the front yard is made of natural stone. On the right side of the yard there is a grassy garden, it feels shady because there are two large pine trees that shade the garden.

Navya and Mohit got out of the car. Mohit walked towards the front door of the house which made of wide wood, and opened the door with the key in his hand.

"Come in. I just renovated this house heavily three years ago, after returning from London. This is the house that my father left behind. You call him Grandpa do you remember?" Mohit asked to Navya.

Navya nodded. She was stunned when she stepped inside the house. Not because of luxury, Navya is used to live in luxury homes. But because the house feels artistic, unique, and very beautiful.

The spacious front room is like a living room mixed with an art gallery. There are dozens of paintings hanging on the right side of the wall, while on the left side there are two large glass cabinets. Inside the glass cabinet contains a number of shadow puppets, keris weapons, various silver crafts, and clay pottery. A set of teak wood tables and chairs fills the middle of the room, still leaving a lot of free space.

"There's a lot of collection of art and painting Mohit," Navya said while looking at the contents of the glass cupboard. "All of this Mohit..... did you buy it?" Navya asked him.

"Some of them are brought by me and  some are bartering with other collectors," Mohit replied to her.

"Barter for what?" Navya asked in confusion.

"Paint." Mohit said and pointed towards the painting hanging on the wall.

"Mohit....you paint it by yourself?" Navya asked in surprise. This was also one of the things she didn't know about Mohit.

Mohit nodded. "It's just my hobby to get rid of boredom." He said to her.

Mohit walks into the interior of the house which is separated by a wall from the living room. Navya followed him. As soon as she set foot behind the wall, Navya was even more amazed.

The interior of the house is wide extending to the back, bright, and open without any partitions between the rooms. At the front there is a set of tables and cream colored sofas, facing a large TV cabinet. Navya could imagine that Mohit must have often relax in this room.

A glass-walled box room is located in the center of the room. Inside the glass room, there is a small garden with a large tree in the middle. The top of the glass room opens to the roof of the house, so that sunlight enters in abundance from above.

Behind the glass room, Navya can see the dining table and kitchen island made up of black marble, as well as a kitchen that looks beautiful with a kitchen set in golden brown and white colors.

On the left side of the room, there is a staircase leading to the second floor. Meanwhile, on the right side, which is limited by a glass wall, you can see a side garden that looks beautiful elongated, and a fish pond, complete with a mini waterfall and artificial cave.

Mohit walks to the kitchen and takes two glasses. "What do you want to drink, Navya?" Mohit asked Navya.

Navya followed Mohit to the kitchen. She liked the look of the beautiful kitchen. "Who designed this house, Mohit? It's really cool!" Instead of answering, Navya asked Mohit another question.

Mohit smiled. "I designed it by myself. Do you like it?" Mohit asked her.

"Huh.... Seriously? That's great!" Navya praised him. She looked around, then engrossed in gazing side garden from behind the glass wall.

Mohit noticed Navya's gaze. He opened the sliding door to the side garden. "Just watch it if you want. This is one of my favorite spot, I can feel at home painting here." Mohit said to her.

The garden is indeed very comfortable and cool. The sound of the artificial waterfall splashing from the fish pond sounds like soothing music. There are two lounge chairs and a wooden table placed in the garden. "Maybe this is where Mohit paints" Navya thought in her mind.

Navya looked at the pond. Many colorful gold fish swim back and forth, very beautiful.

"If you live in Shanti Niketan , who will take care of it here?" For some reason, Navya asked that question.

"Mr. Gupta is the security guard of this house. But he went to his house today. So, tonight I will sleep here. Tomorrow afternoon I will return to your house," Mohit said to Navya.

Hearing Mohit mention 'your house', for some reason caused a speck of discomfort in Navya's heart. "Ah.....what did I expect? Expect Mohit to call 'our home'?" Navya said in her mind.

Then Mohit took Navya to see the second floor of his house. The second floor consists of a lounge in the middle, surrounded by four rooms. The lounge room is only filled with thick carpet, and three large bean bags for siting.

"This is my bedroom," Mohit said, pointing to the largest room in the right corner, overlooking the front garden. But he didn't open the door, and went to another room.

"This is Mr. Gupta's room." Mohit pointed to a room in the left corner. "That's a guest room, and one room for my collection." Mohit said to Navya.

Mohit opened the door to the room he last mentioned. Navya thought that the collection of art items in the living room was quite large, but it turned out that the collection in this room was even more.

There are three large glass cabinets where various silver, wood, metal, leather and clay crafts are displayed. While the paintings are scattered throughout the room. Some were lying on the tiled floor, some were hung, some were piled in the corner.

"Wow...! That's a lot!" Navya was stunned after seeing the room.

"Why aren't the paintings for sale? Just sell it." Navya said and looked at the paintings, most of Mohit's paintings were themed with natural landscapes.

"I don't want to sell it, it's just my hobby" Mohit said to her. "Sometimes I give it when someone asks for it. If there's something you like, just take it, Navya." Mohit said to Navya with a smile.

"Really?" Navya was happy to hear that. "I like landscape painting.". She said to Mohit excitedly.

"Yes, really. Just choose which one you like," Mohit repeated. "If that's the case, just bring it down, okay? I want to go downstairs first." Mohit said and left Navya alone in the room.

Navya went around, looking at one painting after another, there were probably around forty in number. As she unpacked the stacked paintings, a painting at the bottom caught her attention.

That was a face painting of a young woman with long wavy black hair, beautiful eyes, and red lips. Even though it's just a painting, the woman looks beautiful. "Who is the woman in the painting?" Navya asked to herself.

Navya dismantled another painting. There are no more pictures of people's faces, except for that one painting. There's a feeling that Navya's heart felt strange when she saw the painting, as if Mohit had poured all his feelings into painting the woman's face.

Ten minutes later, Navya came down to the first floor, carrying a painting in her hand.

"Have you found the one you like?" Mohit asked her. He was standing in the kitchen.

"Yes, I want this one, yes" Navya answered, showing off a painting with a green forest landscape. "It must look really fresh if I put it in the room." Navya explained her reason.

"Okay, take it." Mohit was seen taking out ingredients from a large refrigerator. The refrigerator is a part of the kitchen set.

"Mohit do you want to cook? Come here, let me just do it" Navya hastily offered him.

Mohit raised his eyebrows. "You want to cook?" He asked in surprise.

"Hey don't get me wrong. I'm good at cooking," Navya boasted. "Dad likes my cooking." She showed off her achivement with a smile.

"I don't have anything to trade with paintings. So I just trade for food," Navya said to him. She was already standing in front of the kitchen island, looking at the ingredients that Mohit had brought out.

Mohit laughed bitterly. The sound of his laughter sounded sweet in Navya's ears. "Then let's cook together." Mohit suggested her. Navya agreed on his suggestion.

That afternoon, the two of them cooked shrimp in sweet and sour sauce and vegetable soup. Mohit was also good at cooking, he looks good at cutting and processing ingredients. When the food was ready, they both tasted the food at the dining table.

"How is it, isn't it good, Mohit?" Navya asked hopefully.

Mohit's eyes widened. "Mmm..., the soup is delicious! It's true, you're really good at cooking," Mohit said to Navya.

"No... this food is the work of two of us," Navya said to him shyly.

Mohit laughed again. He tasted the shrimp and nodded. "Wow, this time! It's so fresh!" Mohit praised the food.

Navya smiled looking at him. Seeing Mohit's bright, radiant face somehow made her heart flutter.